Search results matching tags 'Career' and 'Computing'http://sqlblog.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?o=DateDescending&tag=Career,Computing&orTags=0Search results matching tags 'Career' and 'Computing'en-USCommunityServer 2.1 SP2 (Build: 61129.1)How Does the Cloud Change a Developer's Job?http://sqlblog.com/blogs/buck_woody/archive/2013/02/12/how-does-the-cloud-change-a-developer-s-job.aspxTue, 12 Feb 2013 16:26:51 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:47670BuckWoody<p>I've recently <a href="http://sqlblog.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2013/01/22/how-does-the-cloud-change-a-systems-architect-s-job.aspx" target="_blank">posted a blog on how cloud computing would change the Systems Architect&rsquo;s role in an organization</a>, another on <a href="http://sqlblog.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2013/01/29/how-does-the-cloud-change-a-database-administrator-s-job.aspx" target="_blank">how the cloud changes a Database Administrator's job</a>, and the <a href="http://sqlblog.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2013/02/05/how-does-the-cloud-change-a-systems-administrator-s-job.aspx" target="_blank">last post dealt with the </a><a>Systems Administrator</a>. In this post I'll cover the changes facing the Software Developer when using the cloud. </p>
<p>The software developer role was the earliest adopter of cloud computing. This makes perfect sense, because the software developer has always used computing "as a service" - they (most often) don't buy and configure servers, platforms and the like, they write code that runs on those platforms. And there's probably not a simpler definition of a software developer to be found, but as with all simple statements, you lose fidelity and detail.&nbsp; I'll offer a more complete list in a moment.</p>
<p>Because the software developer's process involves designing, testing and writing code locally and then migrating it to a production environment, all of the paradigms in cloud computing - <a href="http://sqlblog.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2012/06/13/windows-azure-write-run-or-use-software.aspx" target="_blank">from IaaS to PaaS to SaaS</a> - come naturally. </p>
<h1>The Software Developer's Role</h1>
<p>The software developer has evolved since the earliest days of programming.The software developer not only "writes code"&nbsp; - there are far more tasks involved in modern systems development:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Assisting the Business Role(s) in developing software specifications<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Planning software system components and modules<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Designing system components<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Working in teams writing classes, modules, interfaces and software endpoints<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Designing data layouts, architectures, access and other data controls</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Designing and implementing security, either programmatic, declarative, or referential<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Mixing and matching various languages, scripting and other constructs within the system<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Designing and implementing user and account security rights and restrictions</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Designing various software code tests - unit, functional, fuzz, integration, regression, performance and others</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Deploying systems <br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Managing and maintaining code updates and changes<br /></span></li>
</ul>
<p>Like most of the previous roles, those tasks also unpacks into a larger set of tasks, and no single developer has exactly that same list. And like the DBA, the role is often more, or less of that list based on where the developer works. Smaller companies may include the development platform in the duties so that a developer is also a systems administrator. In larger organizations I've seen developers that specialized on User Interfaces, Engine Components, Data Controls or other specific areas.</p>
<h1>How the Cloud Changes Things</h1>
<p>The software developer role obviously has the same concerns and impacts of "the cloud" as the Systems Architect. They need to educate themselves on the options within this new option (<span style="color:#0000ff;">Knowledge</span>), try a few test solutions out (<span style="color:#0000ff;">Experience</span>) and of course work with others on various parts of the implementation (<span style="color:#0000ff;">Coordination</span>).</p>
<p>The big changes for a developer include three major areas: Hybrid Software Design, Security, and Distributed Computing.</p>
<h2>Hybrid Software Design</h2>
<p>After the PC revolution, software developers designed systems that ran primarily on a single computer. From there the industry moved to "client/server", where most of the code still lived on the user's workstation, and various levels of state (such as the data layer) moved to a server over fast connected lines. After than followed the Internet phase, which had less to do with HTML coding than it did with state-less architectures. While no architecture is truly stateless, there are ways of allowing the client to be in a different state than the server of the application at any one time - this is the way the Web works.</p>
<p>Even so, the developer often simply moved one the primary layers (such as Model, View or Controller) to the server, using the User Interface merely as the View or Presentation layer. While technically stateless, this doesn't require a great deal of architecture change - there are various software modules that run on a server, and perhaps that connects to a remote data server. In the end, it's still a single paradigm.&nbsp;</p>
<p>We now have the ability to run IaaS (hardware abstraction), PaaS (hardware, operating system and runtime abstraction) and SaaS (everything abstracted, API calls only) in a single environment such as Windows Azure. A single application might have a Web-based Interface Server with federated processes&nbsp; (using a PaaS set of roles), a database service (using a SaaS provider such as Windows Azure SQL Database), a specialized process in Linux (using an IaaS role in Windows Azure) and a translator API (from the Windows Azure Marketplace). This example involves only one vendor - Microsoft. I've seen applications that use multiple vendors in this same way.</p>
<p>Thinking this way opens up a great deal of flexibility - and complexity. Complexity isn't evil; it's how complicated things get done many times. The modern developer&nbsp; needs to understand how to build hybrid software architectures. </p>
<p style="color:#993300;"><span style="color:#993300;"><em><span style="color:#0000ff;">Resources</span>:</em></span> Hybrid Architectures with step-by-step instructions and examples:&nbsp;<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh871440.aspx" target="_blank">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh871440.aspx </a> and <span style="color:#993300;">Windows Azure Hybrid Systems</span>:&nbsp;<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh871440.aspx?AnnouncementFeed&amp;nbsp;" target="_blank">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh871440.aspx?AnnouncementFeed&nbsp;</a></p>
<h2>Security</h2>
<p>Having a single security boundary, such as "everyone who works in my company", is a relatively simple problem to solve. Normally the System Administrators configure and control a security provider, such as Active Directory, and developers can access that security layer programmatically.&nbsp; That allows for good separation of duties and role-based control.</p>
<p>In modern applications, clients, managers, and users both internal and external need various levels of access to the same objects, code and data. A client should be able to enter an order, a store should be able to accept the order, the credit-card company should be able to check the order and authorize payment, and the managers should be able to report on the order or change it if needed. Using role-based security across multiple domains would be impossible to maintain.</p>
<p>Enter "claims-based" authentication. In this paradigm, the user logs in with whatever security they use - corporate or other Active Directory, Facebook, Google, whatever. The application (using Windows Identity Foundation or WIF) can accept a "claim" from that provider, and the developer can match whatever parts of that claim they wish to the objects, code and data. And example might be useful.</p>
<p>Buck logs in to his corporate Active Directory (AD), and attempts to use a program based in Windows Azure. Windows Azure rejects the login silently, and is configured to check with Buck's AD. Buck's AD says "yes, I know Buck, and he has been granted the following claims: "partner", "manager", "approver". The developer does not need to know about Buck's AD, Buck, his login, or anything else. She simply codes the proper data access to allow "approver" to approve a sale.&nbsp;</p>
<p>This allows a lot of control, at a very fine level, without having to get into the details of each security provider. .</p>
<p><span style="color:#993300;"><em><span style="color:#0000ff;">Resources</span>:</em></span> <span style="color:#993300;">Overview of using claims-based Azure Security</span>: <a href="http://adnanboz.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/claims-based-access-and-windows-azure/" target="_blank">http://adnanboz.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/claims-based-access-and-windows-azure/ </a></p>
<h2>Distributed Computing</h2>
<p>Is there a difference between stateless computing, or even the hybrid programming I mentioned earlier, and "Distributed Computing"? Yes - the primary difference is latency. Even stateless code can have too small a tolerance for latency.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Dealing with slow connectivity, or breaks in connections has many impacts. One method of dealing with this is to locate data and computing of that data as closely as possible, even if this means relaxing consistency or duplicating data. Another method is to go back to a great paradigm from the past that is possible underused today is a Service Oriented Architecture. The Windows Azure Service Bus is possibly one of the fastest and easiest way to adopt cloud computing without completely rearchitecting your application. </p>
<p><span style="color:#0000ff;"><em>References</em></span>: <span style="color:#993300;">Great breakdown of the thought process around a distributed architecture:</span> <a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/jj553517.aspx" target="_blank">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/jj553517.aspx </a>and <span style="color:#993300;">using a Windows Azure Relay Service</span>: <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/how-to-guides/service-bus-relay/" target="_blank">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/develop/net/how-to-guides/service-bus-relay/</a>&nbsp;</p>How Does the Cloud Change a Systems Administrator's Job?http://sqlblog.com/blogs/buck_woody/archive/2013/02/05/how-does-the-cloud-change-a-systems-administrator-s-job.aspxTue, 05 Feb 2013 15:46:02 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:47492BuckWoody<p>I recently<a href="http://sqlblog.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2013/01/22/how-does-the-cloud-change-a-systems-architect-s-job.aspx" target="_blank"> posted a blog entry on how cloud computing would change the Systems Architect&rsquo;s role in an organization</a>, and another on <a href="http://sqlblog.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2013/01/29/how-does-the-cloud-change-a-database-administrator-s-job.aspx" target="_blank">how the cloud changes a database administrator's job</a>. This time I'll cover a few of the changes the cloud brings for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_administrator" target="_blank">Systems Administrator</a>.</p>
<p>The systems administrator shares some similarity with the database administrator, in that it's rare to find a single job description that fits all people in that role. There are some basic similarities among various organizations, so I'll use those as a starting point.</p>
<h1>The Systems Administrator Role</h1>
<p>The systems administrator role is perhaps one of the earliest in technology, at least as far as the implementation of a system goes. In the earliest days of computing, electronic technical professionals built prototype computers, and newly minted "programmers" wrote logical instructions for these systems. In time, the systems administration role owned the installation, configuration, operation and tuning of these systems once they went into production and use on a larger scale. A few of the tasks associated with the role are:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Planning, installing and configuring systems</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Planning, designing and creating storage, networking and other system components<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Planning, designing and implementing High Availability and Disaster Recovery for each system</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Maintaining and monitoring systems<br /></span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Implementing performance tuning systems based on monitoring</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Re-balancing workloads across servers based on monitoring</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Securing systems, networks and individual computers based on requirements and implementation</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Planning, implementing and controlling user and account security rights and restrictions<br /></span></li>
</ul>
<p>Like the DBA, that&rsquo;s just a short list, and each of those tasks also unpacks into a larger set of tasks. And like the DBA, the role is often more, or less of that list based on where the system administrator works. In smaller companies I've been a "systems administrator" that also ran the database and mail servers, web systems, front-line end-user support and made the coffee. In larger organization I was only able to spend the day on one or two parts of that list, since there were so many systems and they interacted with so many other systems.</p>
<p>Systems administrators often deal with multiple operating systems. In one company where I was a system administrator, I worked with no less than six operating systems from mainframes to PC servers, two of them highly specialized to the hardware.</p>
<h1>How the Cloud Changes Things</h1>
<p>The systems administrator has the same concerns and impacts of "the cloud" as the DBA and the Systems Architect. They need to educate themselves on the options within this new option (<span style="color:#0000ff;">Knowledge</span>), try a few test solutions out (<span style="color:#0000ff;">Experience</span>) and of course work with others on various parts of the implementation (<span style="color:#0000ff;">Coordination</span>).</p>
<p><a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/windows/fundamentals/intro-to-windows-azure/#components" target="_blank">I've mentioned the three big buckets of cloud computing</a>, dealing with Virtual Machines (IaaS) writing code (PaaS) and using software that&rsquo;s already written and being delivered via an Application Programming Interface (API).&nbsp; In my experience, the systems administrator role normally tackles the first "bucket" most often - IaaS, which has at its base the technology of virtualization.</p>
<h2>Virtualization</h2>
<p>One of the first areas the systems administrator is involved with "the cloud" is in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtualization" target="_blank">area of virtualization</a>. This technology isn't new - in fact, I worked on Virtual Machines (VM's) way back in my mainframe days. It's the process of using software to emulate hardware - which has implications far beyond that simple sentence.</p>
<p>Virtualization is normally a standard on-premises process. When you take Virtual Machines and host them in another location, this is called Co-Location, or CoLo. Personally, I don't define either of these activities as "Cloud" computing - it's simply virtualization. Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) normally involves several more components, at the very least being able to set up the systems (provision) and deploy them in a standard, automated way. It also involves (at a minimum) the ability to monitor, move and alter the systems using a prescribed methodology. There are other parts of IaaS to be sure, but this level above simply scripting installations or virtualizing a machine is where the system administrator becomes involved in this new "cloud computing" paradigm.</p>
<p>There are multiple VM technologies available, from the hypervisor that is built-in to the Windows operating system (Hyper-V) to third-party alternatives such as VMWare. The choice of cloud provider often dictates the selection of hypervisor. Windows Azure uses Hyper-V, and allows you to move systems from the cloud to the desktop and back again. Other providers use VMWare, or a proprietary format. Some allow you to push or pull images from the cloud service, others do not. The systems administrator must educate themselves on the business need and then select the cloud provider that best fits the requirements for a workload. It's also common to use several cloud providers within a single company.</p>
<p><span style="color:#993300;"><em><span style="color:#0000ff;">Resources</span>:</em></span> <span style="color:#993300;">Windows Azure Virtual Machines</span>: <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/windows/tutorials/virtual-machine-from-gallery/">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/windows/tutorials/virtual-machine-from-gallery/</a>&nbsp;and<span style="color:#993300;"> System Center</span>: <a href="http://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2011/12/01/managing-and-monitoring-windows-azure-applications-with-system-center-2012.aspx" target="_blank">http://blogs.technet.com/b/server-cloud/archive/2011/12/01/managing-and-monitoring-windows-azure-applications-with-system-center-2012.aspx</a>&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Cloud Computing Architecture - Private, Public and Hybrid</h2>
<p>It's important to note that IaaS can be on-premises, at another facility, or both. The first is called "private cloud", the second "public cloud", and the third "hybrid cloud". Yes, these are marketing terms, but they are useful in describing where the decisions are for deploying a system. If data security is paramount, then private cloud may be the right choice for a given workload. If agility or cost is an issue, public cloud may be the right answer for another workload. And in many cases - perhaps most - using both architectures is the right way to split the workload.&nbsp;</p>
<p>The key is to understand the workload well. In the past the system administrator needed to know the component requirements, such as how much memory, CPU, network and storage a workload needed. In cloud computing, these are also concerns, but you need to add in the questions of cost, business use, location of users, security and other vectors. These concerns bring the systems administrator closer to the business and its goals.</p>
<p><span style="color:#993300;"><em><span style="color:#0000ff;">Resources</span>:</em></span> <span style="color:#993300;">Windows Azure Hybrid Systems</span>:&nbsp;<a href="http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh871440.aspx?AnnouncementFeed&amp;nbsp;" target="_blank">http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh871440.aspx?AnnouncementFeed&nbsp;</a></p>
<h2>DevOps</h2>
<p>One new term introduced into cloud computing is "DevOps" - short for Developer Operations. Not everyone agrees that this is even a real "thing" - that it's a made-up term by cloud vendors. Regardless, there is a new set of tasks that the cloud brings that may sit within the purview of the system administrator.&nbsp;</p>
<p>Basically it involves the administration needed at the PaaS or SaaS level. The IaaS function of cloud computing holds most of the same characteristics as an on-premises system, defined the in the first list I mentioned above. But when the organization uses Platform as a Service, the operating system, much of the security, scale and other components of infrastructure are abstracted into the platform, and are often even controlled by the developer.</p>
<p>But once the application "goes live", there are a host of billing, controlling, scaling and other security questions that developers aren't equipped to handle. Who takes care of those? As companies are finding out, they need to appoint someone to cover these overlapped areas between developers and administrators.</p>
<p><span style="color:#0000ff;"><em>References</em></span>: <span style="color:#993300;">How DevOps brings order:</span> <a href="http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/feature/How-DevOps-brings-order-to-a-cloud-oriented-world" target="_blank">http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/feature/How-DevOps-brings-order-to-a-cloud-oriented-world</a> and Managing Windows Azure: <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/overview/" target="_blank">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/overview/ </a></p>How Does the Cloud Change a Database Administrator’s Job?http://sqlblog.com/blogs/buck_woody/archive/2013/01/29/how-does-the-cloud-change-a-database-administrator-s-job.aspxTue, 29 Jan 2013 15:08:32 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:47385BuckWoody<p>I recently<a href="http://sqlblog.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2013/01/22/how-does-the-cloud-change-a-systems-architect-s-job.aspx" target="_blank"> posted a blog entry on how cloud computing would change the Systems Architect&rsquo;s role in an organization</a>. In a way, the Systems Architect has the easiest transition to a new way of using computing technologies. In fact, that&rsquo;s actually part of the job description.&nbsp;I mentioned that a Systems Architect has three primary vectors to think about for cloud computing, as it applies to what they should do:</p>
<ol>
<li><span style="color:#0000ff;">Knowledge - Which options are available to solve problems, and what are their strengths and weaknesses.</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#0000ff;">Experience - What has the System Architect seen and worked with in the past.</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#0000ff;">Coordination - A system design is based on multiple factors, and one person can't make all the choices. There will need to be others involved at every level of the solution, and the Systems Architect will need to know who those people are and how to work with them.</span></li>
</ol>
<h1>The Database Administrator Role</h1>
<p>But a Database Administrator (DBA) is probably one of the harder roles to think about when it comes to cloud computing. First, let&rsquo;s define what a Database Administrator usually thinks about as part of their job:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Planning, Installing and Configuring a Database Platform</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Planning, designing and creating databases</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Planning, designing and implementing High Availability and Disaster Recovery for each database (HADR) based on requirements for its workload</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Maintaining and monitoring the database platform</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Implementing performance tuning on the databases based on monitoring</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Re-balancing workloads across database servers based on monitoring</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#993300;">Securing databases platforms and individual databases based on requirements and implementation</span></li>
</ul>
<p>That&rsquo;s just a short list, and each of those unpacks into a larger set of tasks.</p>
<p>The issue is that<em> I&rsquo;ve never actually met a DBA that does all of those things</em>, or <strong>just</strong> all of those things. Many times they do much more, sometimes the systems are so large they specialize on just a few of them.</p>
<p>And as you can see from the list, some of these areas are shared with other roles. For instance, in some shops, the DBA plans, purchases, sets up and configures the hardware for database servers. In others that&rsquo;s done<br />by the Infrastructure Team. In some shops the DBA designs databases from software requirements, and in others the developers do that &ndash; or perhaps it&rsquo;s done as a joint effort. The same holds true for database code &ndash; sometimes the<br />DBA does it, other times the developer, and still others it&rsquo;s a shared task.</p>
<p>In fact, you could argue that there are few other roles in IT where the roles are so intermixed. Also, the DBA works with software the company develops, and software the company buys. They work with hardware, networking, security and software. There are certain aspects of design and tuning that are outside the purview of some of those things, and inside the others.</p>
<p>With all of these variables, simply telling a DBA that they should &ldquo;use the cloud&rdquo; is not the proper approach.</p>
<h1>How the Cloud Changes Things</h1>
<p>To be sure, the DBA has the same vectors as the Systems Architect. They need to educate themselves on the options within this new option (<span style="color:#0000ff;">Knowledge</span>), try a few test solutions out (<span style="color:#0000ff;">Experience</span>) and of course work with others on various parts of the implementation (<span style="color:#0000ff;">Coordination</span>). But it goes beyond that.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/windows/fundamentals/intro-to-windows-azure/#components" target="_blank">There are three big buckets of cloud computing</a>, dealing with simply using a Virtual Machine (IaaS) to writing code without worrying about the virtualization or even the operating system (PaaS) and using software that&rsquo;s already written and being delivered via an Application Programming Interface (API). Each of these has so many options and configurations that it&rsquo;s often better to think about the problem you&rsquo;re trying to solve rather than all of the technology within a given area - although some of that is certainly necessary anyway.&nbsp;</p>
<h2>Database Platform Architecture</h2>
<p>I&rsquo;ll start with when the DBA should even consider cloud computing for a solution. Once again, it&rsquo;s not an &ldquo;all or nothing&rdquo; paradigm, where you either run something on premises or in the cloud &ndash; it&rsquo;s often a matter of selecting the right components to solve a problem.&nbsp; In my design sessions with DBA&rsquo;s I break these down into three big areas where they might want to consider the cloud &ndash;and then we talk about how to implement each one:</p>
<ol>
<li><span style="color:#0000ff;">Audiences</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#0000ff;">HADR</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#0000ff;">Data Services</span></li>
</ol>
<h3>Audiences</h3>
<p>If the users of your database systems all sit in the same facility, you own the servers and networking, and the application servers are separate from the database server, it doesn&rsquo;t usually make sense to take that database workload and place it on Windows Azure &ndash; or any other cloud provider. The latency alone prevents a satisfactory performance profile, and in some cases won&rsquo;t work at all. It doesn&rsquo;t matter if the cloud solution is cheaper or easier &ndash; if you&rsquo;re moving a lot of data every second between an on-premises system and the cloud it won&rsquo;t work well.</p>
<p>However &ndash; if your users are in multiple locations, especially globally, or you have a mix of company and external customer users, it might make sense to evaluate a shared data location. You still need to consider the implications of how much data the application server pushes back and forth, but you may be able to locate both the application server and SQL Server in an IaaS role. Assuming the data sent to the final client will work across public Internet channels, there may be a fit. There are security implications, but unless you have point-to-point connections for your current solution you&rsquo;re faced with the same security questions on both options.</p>
<p>Your audience might also be developers looking for a way to quickly spin up a server and then turn it down when they are done, paying for the time and not the hardware or licenses. This is also a prime case for evaluating IaaS. And there are others that you'll find in your own organization as you work through the requirements you have.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>
<p>Resources: Windows Azure Virtual Machines: <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/windows/tutorials/virtual-machine-from-gallery/">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/windows/tutorials/virtual-machine-from-gallery/</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<span style="color:#993300;">Windows Azure SQL Server Virtual Machines</span>: <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/windows/common-tasks/install-sql-server/">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/windows/common-tasks/install-sql-server/</a></p>
<h3>HADR</h3>
<p>The next possible place to consider using cloud computing with SQL Server is as a part of your High Availability and Disaster Recovery plans. In fact, this is the most common use I see for cloud computing and the Database Administrator. The key is the Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO). Based on each application&rsquo;s requirements, you may find that using Windows Azure or even supplementing your current plan is<br />the right place to evaluate options. I&rsquo;ve covered this use-case in more detail in another article.</p>
<p><span style="color:#993300;">References: SQL Server High Availability and Disaster Recovery options with Windows Azure</span>: <a href="http://sqlblog.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2013/01/08/microsoft-windows-azure-disaster-recovery-options-for-on-premises-sql-server.aspx">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2013/01/08/microsoft-windows-azure-disaster-recovery-options-for-on-premises-sql-server.aspx</a></p>
<h3>Data Services</h3>
<p>Windows Azure, along with other cloud providers, offers another way to design, create and consume data. In this use-case, however, the tasks DBA&rsquo;s normally perform for sizing, ordering and configuring a system don&rsquo;t apply.</p>
<p>With Windows Azure SQL Databases (the artist formerly known as SQL Azure), you can simply create a database and begin using it. There are places where this fits and others where it doesn&rsquo;t, and there are differences, limitations and enhancements, so it isn&rsquo;t meant as replacement for what you could do with &ldquo;Full-up&rdquo; SQL Server on a Windows Azure Virtual Machine or an on-premises Instance. If a developer needs an Relational Database Management<br />(RDBMS) data store for a web-based application, then this might be a perfect fit.</p>
<p>But there is more to data services than Windows Azure SQL Databases. Windows Azure also offers MySQL as a service, RIAK and MongoDB (among others) and even Hadoop for larger distributed data sets. In addition you can use Windows Azure Reporting Services, and also tap into datasets and data functions in the Windows Azure Marketplace.</p>
<p>The key for the DBA with this option is that you <em>will</em> have to do a little investigation this time, and potentially without a specific workload in mind this time. I think that&rsquo;s acceptable thing to ask &ndash; DBA&rsquo;s constantly keep up with data processing trends, and most will consider different ways to solve a problem.</p>
<p><span style="color:#993300;">References:</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#993300;">Windows Azure SQL Databases</span>: <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/data-management/" target="_blank">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/home/features/data-management/</a></p>
<p><span style="color:#993300;">Windows Azure Reporting Services</span>: <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/services/other/sql-reporting/" target="_blank">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/services/other/sql-reporting/</a></p>
<p><span style="color:#993300;">HDInsight Service (Hadoop on Azure): </span><a href="https://www.hadooponazure.com/" target="_blank">https://www.hadooponazure.com/</a></p>
<p><span style="color:#993300;">MongoDB Offerings on Windows Azure</span>: <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/linux/common-tasks/mongodb-on-a-linux-vm/" target="_blank">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/manage/linux/common-tasks/mongodb-on-a-linux-vm/</a></p>
<p><span style="color:#993300;">Windows Azure Marketplace</span>: <a href="http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/store/overview/" target="_blank">http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/store/overview/</a></p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>How Does the Cloud Change a Systems Architect’s Job?http://sqlblog.com/blogs/buck_woody/archive/2013/01/22/how-does-the-cloud-change-a-systems-architect-s-job.aspxTue, 22 Jan 2013 15:43:59 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:47243BuckWoody<p>I know - I said I didn't like the "cloud" term, but my better-phrased "Distributed Systems" moniker just never took off like I had hoped. So I'll stick with the "c" word for now, at least until the search engines catch up with my more accurate term.</p>
<p>I thought I might spend a little time on how the cloud affects the way we work - from Systems Architects to Database Administrators and Developers, and Systems Administrators - a group often referred to as "IT Pro's". But each role within these groups have different aspects when using cloud computing. In this post we'll take a look at the role of the Systems Architect, and in the posts that follow I'll talk more about the other roles in the IT Pro area.</p>
<h1>The Systems Architect Role</h1>
<p>What does a "Systems Architect" do? Like most IT roles, it depends on the company or organization where they work. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems_architect" target="_blank">In fact, the term isn't even specific to technology</a>, but I'll use it in that context here. In general, a Systems Architect takes the requirements for a given system, and assembles the relevant technology areas that best fulfill those requirements. That's a single-sentence explanation, and needs further unpacking.</p>
<p>As an example, a Systems Architect at a medical firm&nbsp;is presented with a set of requirements for tracking a patient through the entire care cycle. The Systems Architect first looks at all of the requirements for the data that needs to be collected based on business, financial, regulations, and other requirements, and then how that data needs to flow from one system to another. They check the security requirements, performance, location and other aspects of the system. They then check to see which options are available for processing that data, and which parts they should "build or buy".</p>
<p>For instance, the requirements might be so specific that only custom code is the proper solution - but even there, choices still exist, such as which language(s) to use, what type of data persistence (a Relational Database Management System or or other data storage and processing) will be used, what talent within the company is available for the system and a myriad of other decision.</p>
<p>All of this boils down to three primary vectors:</p>
<ol>
<li><span style="color:#0000ff;"><strong>Knowledge</strong> - Which options are available to solve problems, and what are their strengths and weaknesses.</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#0000ff;"><strong>Experience</strong> - What has the System Architect seen and worked with in the past.</span></li>
<li><span style="color:#0000ff;"><strong>Coordination</strong> - A system design is based on multiple factors, and one person can't make all the choices. There will need to be others involved at every level of the solution, and the Systems Architect will need to know who those people are and how to work with them.</span></li>
</ol>
<h1>How the Cloud Changes Things</h1>
<p>From the outset, it doesn't seem that using a distributed system would change anything in the Systems Architect role. Isn't the cloud simply another option that the Systems Architect needs to learn and apply? Yes, that is true - but it goes a bit deeper. Let's return to those vectors a moment to see what a Systems Architect needs to take into account.</p>
<h2>Knowledge</h2>
<p>The first and probably most obvious impact is learning about cloud technologies. But the important part of that knowledge is to learn <em>when</em> and <em>where</em> to use each service. It's a common misconception that the cloud should be an "all or nothing" approach. That's just not true - every Windows Azure project I work on has some element of on-premises interaction, and in some cases only one small part of a solution is placed on the Windows Azure architecture. Since Windows Azure contains IaaS (VM's) PaaS (you write code, we run it)&nbsp; and even SaaS (Such as Hadoop or Media Services), a given architecture can use multiple components even within just one provider. And I've worked on several projects where the customer used not only Windows Azure and On-Premises environments, but also components from other providers. That's not only acceptable, but often the best way to solve a given problem.</p>
<p>As part of the learning experience, it's vital to keep in mind what you need to pick as key decision points. In your organization, cost could be ranked higher than performance, or perhaps security is the highest decision point.</p>
<p>To stay educated, there are various journals, websites and conferences that Systems Architects use to keep current. Almost all of those are talking about "cloud" - but there is no substitute for learning from the vendor about their solution. I'm speaking here of the technical information, not the marketing information. The marketing information is also useful, at least from a familiarity standpoint, but the technical information is what you need.</p>
<p><span style="color:#800000;">Resource: For Windows Azure, the Systems Architect can start here:</span> <a href="http://sqlblog.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2012/06/13/windows-azure-write-run-or-use-software.aspx" target="_blank">http://blogs.msdn.com/b/buckwoody/archive/2012/06/13/windows-azure-write-run-or-use-software.aspx</a>&nbsp; </p>
<h2>Experience</h2>
<p>Cloud computing is relatively new - it's only been out a few years, and the main competitors are only now settling in to their respective areas. It might not be common for a Systems Architect to have a lot of hands-on experience with cloud projects.</p>
<p>Even so, there are ways to leverage the experience of others, such as direct contact or even attending conferences where customers present findings from their experiences.</p>
<p>You can also gain hands-on experience by setting up pilots and proof-of-concept projects yourself. Most all vendors - Microsoft included - have free time available on their systems. The key to an experiment like this is choosing some problem you are familiar with that exercises as many features in the platform as possible. There is no substitute for working with a platform when you want to design a solution. </p>
<h2>Coordination</h2>
<p>Probably one of the largest changes in the Systems Architect role that the cloud brings is in the area of coordination. When a Systems Architect deals with the business and other technical professionals, there is a 20+ year history of technology that we are all familiar with. When you mention "the cloud", those audiences may not have spent the time you have in understanding what that means - and often they think it means the "all or nothing" approach I mentioned earlier.</p>
<p>I've found that a series of "lunch and learns" for the technical staff is useful to explain to each role-group how the cloud is used in their area is useful. In the posts that follow this one, I'll give you some material for those. For managers and business professionals, you'll want to go a different route. I've found that an "Executive Briefing" e-mail, consisting of about a page, with headings that are applicable to your audience.</p>
<p><span style="color:#800000;">Resource: Writing Executive Summaries:</span> <a href="http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=76" target="_blank">http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/guide.cfm?guideid=76</a> </p>